1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to an apparatus and method for sorting objects, in particular fruit, and for transferring such objects between conveyors without damage.
2. Related Art
Object sorting apparatus, in particular fruit sorters, typically have an intake area which receives quantities of fruit. In order to sort the fruit by quality or grade, for example by size, color, or other characteristics, it is necessary to singulate the fruit so that individual pieces can be inspected. Upon inspection, each piece of fruit can be graded according to size, weight, color, or other desired parameter, and then transferred to a conveyor so that the fruit can be deposited in appropriate collecting bins. Copending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/686,336 to Low, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a soft drop singulating device in which fruit is transferred with minimal bruising. Copending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/513,271 to Coffelt et al. discloses a sonic fruit sizer which orients fruit in a specified direction for presentation to ultrasonic waves, so that reflections can be measured to determine the size of each piece of fruit. Items are then sorted by size, with different size items collected in different collecting bins.
The above references fail to address the problem of mechanically induced damage to fruit as it passes from a sorter to a conveyor for depositing the fruit into appropriate grading collection bins. Moreover, the references lack a description of a method for rotating fruit to obtain images of the various aspects of the fruit, including all sides of the fruit, for sorting purposes, for example by size or color.